Safety strap system for skis and a method of arranging same

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to safety strap systems for skis and comprises: A SEMI-RIGID STIRRUP OPEN TOWARDS THE FRONT OF THE SKI AND DESIGNED TO FIT AROUND THE BACK OF A BOOT, THE ARMS OF THE SAID STIRRUP BEING ATTACHED TO UPRIGHT, LATERAL WINGS ATTACHED TO THE SKI; A FLEXIBLE LOCKING THONG IS ATTACHED TO ONE ARM OF THE STIRRUP AND IS ADAPTED TO BE HOOKED TO THE OTHER ARM OF THE STIRRUP; AND MEANS ARE PROVIDED TO ENSURE THAT, WHEN THE THONG IS UNHOOKED, THE STIRRUP WILL MOVE FAR ENOUGH BACKWARDS, AND WILL SPREAD ITS ARMS FAR ENOUGH APART, TO ALLOW THE BOOT TO MOVE FREELY WHEN THE SKI IS BEING PUT ON OR TAKEN OFF.

United States Patent 1 Salomon 1 SAFETY STRAP SYSTEM FOR SKIS AND A METHOD OF ARRANGING SAME [76] Inventor: Georges Pierre Joseph Salomon, 34

Avenue de Loverchy, Annecy-Haute-Savoie, France [22] Filed: July 26, 1971 [2]] Appl. No.: 165,996

74,834 86,038 8/1920 Switzerland... 776,540 1/1968 Canada 280/11.35 N

Primary Examiner1(enneth H. Betts Assistant ExaminerDavid M. Mitchell AttorneyRoger Goudreau [57] ABSTRACT The invention relates to safety strap systems for skis and comprises:

a semi-rigid stirrup open towards the front of the ski and designed to fit around the back of a boot, the arms of the said stirrup being attached to upright,

v lateral wings attached to the ski;

a flexible locking thong is attached to one arm of the stirrup and is adapted to be hooked to the other arm of the stirrup; and means are provided to ensure that, when the thong is unhooked, the stirrup will move far enough backwards, and will spread its arms far enough apart, to allow the boot to move freely when the ski is being put on or taken off.

14 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PATENTEUNuv slew 3.770.288

SHEET 10F 3 PATENTEDMUY 6 19m 8,770,288 SHEET 20F 3 PATENTEU NOV 6 I975 SHEET 3 [IF 3 SAFETY STRAP SYSTEM FOR SKIS AND A METHOD OF ARRANGING SAME The present invention relates to a method of arranging a safety strap system for skis.

Known safety strap systems for skis secure the boots permanently to the skis; The purpose of these systems is to prevent total separation of the ski and the boot, after an event such as a fall has caused the safety binding, by which each boot is normally attached to the ski, to open. I

These systems must, however, allow the said .binding to function properly, especially to open and release the boot, under a stress acting either in the horizontal plane as the result of a fall with torsion, or in a vertical plane as the result of a forward fall. This is why known systems have sufficient slack or a design which allows elongation by elasticity.

Some known strap systems have only one point of attachment to the ski or the binding; in the event of a fall which causes the binding to open, the ski remains 'connected to the boot by only one strip of thong, and it may therefore fly round and injure the skier.

For the purpose of overcoming this disadvantage, it has already been proposed to use safety straps, attached to the ski or the fastening at several points, as, for example, in German Patent 1,991,419.

However, the presence of these safety straps, usually made of leather orof a flexible synthetic material, has one disadvantage, namely that when the ski is not in use, the said straps lie at random on the ski; thus when the skier desires to put the skis on, he must put them in order before he can position his foot; he must then roll them appropriately around his boot, and finally fasten them. All of this is tiresome and is often difficult to do on a steep slope or in deep snow, especially with the heavy gloves that skiers usually wear.

It has been found that there are two factors involved in this disadvantage:

the considerable length of the straps used, since they must pass around the boot;

the flexibility of the said straps, which causes them to occupy the space on the ski where the boot should go.

It has also been suggested (US. Pat. No. 3,549,163) to temporarily connect a ring integral with the boot to a resilient element, such as a spring, mounted on the binding or the ski. But devices of this kind, which arenot strap systems, involve the use of locking mechanisms, and the presence of the resilient element may be a nuisance when the ski is being put on.

The present invention proposes a simple and inexpensive solution of these problems; it relates to .a method of arranging a safety strap system in the form of a set of straps enveloping the boot and comprising two lateral attachment wings fastened to the ski,-the said process being characterized in that:

' the straps which fit around the rear of the boot, and the lateral wings are made semi-rigid, in such a manner that, when the ski is not in use, this set of straps remains outside the area occupied by the boot;

fitted to the forward portion of this assembly is a short and relatively flexible thong, the free end of which can be hooked into the other side in order to fasten the set of straps aroundthe front of the boot, which is thus completely enclosed.

Moreover, the point at which the thong is attached to the set of semi-rigid straps is raised above the ski, thus shortening the length of the relatively flexible part, which will thus beslightly more than half the circumference of the boot at ankle level.

Where the safety strap system is provided with a tensioning device, more particularly a resilient element designed to clamp the boot, the said tensioning device will preferably be arranged on the hooking end of the thong, so that after the said thong has been unhooked it will naturally fall outside the area occupied by the boot. To be more precise, the said tensioning device will be arranged on the inside face of the thong.

' According to the invention, the semi-rigid straps mentioned above may be obtained, and may be kept in shape:

either by the choice of an appropriate material for the whole or a part of the strap assembly which fits the back of the boot;

or by using a rigid or semi-rigid additional piece which imparts the said relative rigidity to the strap assembly which fits the back of the boot.

The invention also relates to a system of safety straps for the execution of the method described above, the said system consisting, according to the general aspect of the invention, of:

a semi-rigid stirrup open towards the front of the ski and intended to fit around the back of the boot, the arms of this stirrup being connected to two fastening wings integral with the ski; v

a locking thong attached by one end to a point on one of the arms of the stirrup near the forward end thereof, the other end of the said thong being hooked to a point near the forward end of the other arm of the stirrup, with the thong itself lying on the front of the boot;

and means to ensure that, when the thong is unhooked, the stirrup will move back and spread its arms, thus providing ample space for the boot to move when the ski is being put on or taken off.

The means used to urge the stirrup into the position of rest, i.e., the position in which it is drawn back and open, may be of any suitable type as long as they have sufficient elasticity to allow the stirrup to move forwards and the lateral wings to come together for the fastening thong to be passed across the front of the boot and hooked, furthermore to allow the stirrup to return automatically to the position of rest when the said thong is unhooked.

These means may consist, quite simply, of two upright wings attached to the ski in such a manner that they slope backwards and diverge from their point of attachment to the ski. -These two wings may be in the form of a strip of metal having a certain amount of resiliency and which has been suitably shaped for the purpose.

It would also be possible to use a flexible strip which isiflat in the position of rest, especially a leather or plastic strip bent into the shaft of a U, the central portion being attached to the ski while the arms of the U are kept in a generally vertical position by the action of the arms of the stirrup. The arms of the U are caused to slope rearwardly at the time of fitting, either by permanent deformation of the material itself, or by the method of fitting, such as the provision of an inclined plane for the central portion of the U. It will be noted that the stirrup itself, by its own weight, tends to cause the arms to pivot backwards.

According to one variant, the .means for positioning the stirrup may be the arrangement of the upright wings in such a manner that they normally slope backwards, combined with a flexible connection between the central portion of the stirrup and a fixed point on the ski behind the upright wings.

According to another variant, the said means comprise a substantially vertical rigid rod fixed to the hinged jaw of the heelpiece and connected to the centre portion of the stirrup. This rigid rod is integral with the jaw, so that when the latter opens, the said rod pivots backwards carrying with it the stirrup, which thus frees the space for the boot.

The present invention will now be described, in the form of a non-restrictive example, with reference to the attached drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective of a first form of embodiment of a safety strap system according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic side elevation illustrating the safety system in the open position or position of rest;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation of the safety system in the position of rest;

FIG. 4 shows the safety system according to the invention in the closed position;

FIG. 5 is a perspective of a second form of embodiment of the safety system according to the invention, shown in the closed position;

FIG. 6 is a side elevation of a third form of embodiment of the invention, shown in the open position;

FIG. 7 is a section, to an enlarged scale, of a detail of a variant of a stirrup-fastening means, and

FIGS. 8 and 9 are variants respectively of the forms of embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7.

In the drawings, identical parts have the same reference numbers.

In FIG. 2, numeral 1 indicates the part of the ski to which is attached heelpiece 2 of the binding used to connect the boot to the ski. Numeral 3 indicates schematically the hinged jaw pivoting about an axis 4 and clamping the rear of the boot.

Located ahead of the said heelpiece is the safety strap system according to the invention, indicated in general by the reference numeral 5.

The safety system comprises two lateral fastening wings 6 and 7 arranged upright on the ski and attached thereto. The said wings are made of a semi-rigid material having sufficient resiliency to return automatically to the position of rest shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, after being deformed by stresses applied transversely or longitudinally of the ski.

In the form of embodiment illustrated, these wings consist preferably of a flat strip of leather or suitable synthetic material, the middle portion of which is attached to the ski by means of a plate 8 screwed to the ski with screws 9.

By way of example, it may be mentioned that highly satisfactory results have been obtained by using for these wings the same material as that used for the thongs carrying rings used to co-operate with the hooks on ski boots of the shell type made of plastic material, such as polyurethane.

This strip is curved to the shape of a U and is kept in this shape in the position of rest by means of a stirrup 10 consisting of two lengths of semi-rigid strap joined at 11, the ends of the arms of this stirrup being fastened respectively at 12 to the ends of wings 6 and 7. A locking thong 14 is attached at 13 to wing 7 and carries at its free end an element such as a ring 15 intended to hook into a hooking means 16 of known type attached to wing 6.

Attached at 17, on the inside face of thong 14, are the ends of a resilient tensioning member 17 used to clamp the safety system to the boot.

In the open position, or position of rest, shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the safety system is such that:

on the one hand, wings 6 and 7 diverge as a result of their natural resiliency which would cause them to lie flat in the plane of the ski, if stirrup 10 did not hold them up;

on the other hand, wings 6 and 7 slope backwards (as may be seen in FIG. 2); this slope is imparted at the time of assembly, either by deforming the material of which the wings are made, or by attaching the middle portion of the strip of which the wings are made to a slightly sloping surface provided on the ski.

The operation of the safety strap system is shown more clearly in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4.

In putting on the ski, the user engages front end 19 of his boot '18 in the forward stop of the fastening system; he then lowers the heel of the boot into jaw 3 of heelpiece 2 which swings forward. The safety strap system being in the open position, or position of rest, allows the boot to be put in place without any difficulty, since stirrup 10 is retracted, wings 6 and 7 are open, and thong 14 is outside the ski. All that is needed to close the safety strap system on to the boot is to pass thong 14 across the front of the boot, the tensioning of this thong causing wings 6 and 7 to straighten up in the direction of arrow 22 and to close in laterally in the direction of arrow 23, and stirrup 10 moves towards the heel of the boot, as shown in FIG. 4. It will be observed that in the example shown, the tension of thong 14 is obtained from a resilient part 17, and that this thong, even when it is hooked up, still has a certain amount of slack allowing free functioning of the safety fastenings in the event of a fall.

The extent of the said slack may be adjusted by means of an appropriate metal buckle located at 11 on the stirrup, which makes it possible to adjust the length of the arms of stirrup 1'0.

In the form of embodiment just described, the return of the safety strap system to the position of rest is due mainly to the resiliency and to the method of mounting wings 6 and 7. It would, however, be possible to provide a restoring means acting directly on stirrup 10. The variants in FIGS. 5 and 6 show examples of this.

In FIG. 5, the stirrup consists of two strips 25 and 27 attached respectively to wings 7 and 6 by rivets 26 and 28; these two strips are joined at 29 by a ring which slides stiffly on the strands which, beyond the said ring, lie one on top of the other to form a common loop 30 attached at 31 to the back of the heelpiece or to the ski. In this arrangement, the resiliency of loop 30 tends to pull wings 6 and 7 backwards.

It will be seen that the size of stirrup 25,27 may be adjusted by sliding ring 29.

In the variant shown in FIG. 6, lateral wings 32 and 34 are made from a flexible strip which bends under its own weight and has a tendency to place itself naturally upon the ski. Wing 32 has a hook 33 and is connected by a rivet 36 to one end 37 of the stirrup, the other end 38 thereof being fastened at 39 to wing 34. Wing 34 is extended by a thong 40 which carries at its end a ring designed to engage with hook 33, and a tensioning element 41.

The middle portion of stirrup 37-38 is attached, for

example, by a rivet 42, to the top of a rigid rod 43 attached to the upper-part of moving jaw 3 of heelpiece 2.

It will be understood that this arrangement causes the safety strap system to open automatically as soon as hook 33 is released and unlocked jaw 3 lifts.

Rigid rod 43 may be attached directly to the jaw or, as a variant, it may be made as shown in FIG. 7, in which it consists of a rigid sheath 49 pierced by a channel 48 carrying a rope 45 which, in this case, is connected to the jaw in that it consists of two strands forming a loop surrounding a piece 46 located in a housing 47 in jaw 3. Rigid sheath 49 is held between a stop and the upper surface of the jaw, thus keeping rope 45 rigid, the upper ends thereof being fastened to stirrup 37-38 as shown in FIG. 6.

Rigid rod 43 or part 49 are, of course, made of unbreakable material which should also be malleable, for instance like natural or synthetic rubber, so that they are not fragile and do not prevent the skis from being fastened together when they are put away; rod 43 or piece 49 will thus preferably be flexible enough to allow the unit to fold in all directions, especially towards the boot.

It will be seen that the slope of rope 45 may be ad- 1 justed in relation to the jaw by imparting to the base 50 of sheath 49 a slope in relation to its vertical axis. Ad-

' justing the slope of part 49 makes it possible to adjust the tension on stirrup 37-38.

However, it is also possible to use for part 49 a piece of non-malleable material. In this case, part 49 will be hinged resiliently by its base to the jaw; this may be achieved merely by substituting for rope 45 a resilient element (such as a helicoidal spring or the like). Any displacement of part 49 will thus stretch the spring, and the latter will restore part 49 to its normal position after the load has been removed.

In FIG. 8, which shows a variant of FIG. 5, lateral wings 52-52 consist of a strip of flexible material kept in the shape of a U by a stirrup 53 made of relatively rigid material (metal or synthetic material). The ends of wings 52-52 are attached to the ends of arms 54 of the stirrup by means of rivets 55, and the said stirrup extends rearwardly in the form of a similarly semi-rigid part 56 forming a loop and attached at 57, for example, to heelpiece 2 of the fastenings, more particularly to a manual boot-removal lever which allows the fastenings to be unlocked by pulling on loop 57.

One of arms 54 of the stirrup carries a thong 14 ending in a ring I5 intended to engage with hook 58 attached at 55 to the other arm 54 of the stirrup.

The system illustrated in FIG. 9 is a variant of that in FIG. 6. The majority of the elements of these systems are common to both, and are indicated by the same reference numerals. The only difference from FIG. 6 is that rigid part 60 attached to jaw 3 of the heelpiece is of a different design to that in FIG. 6, being in the form of a T, to the cross arm of which stirrup 37-38 is attached by two rivets. In this case, straps 37-38-32-34 are all flexible. I

It will be understood that the present invention is not restricted to the examples of embodiment described and illustrated but comprises all variants within the scope of one skilled in the art.

Thus, although in the examples illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 5, rapid-release hooks -16 are provided, any

known means of hooking could be used, for instance that shown in FIG. 6.

Similarly, although it may be preferable to provide a tensioning element 17 lining thong 14 as shown, it will be understood that this is not imperative, and that the tensioning element could be dispensed with as long as enough slack is left, when the thong is closed, to allow the boot to emerge from the safety fastenings, while the said slack is also short enough to prevent the boot, in the event of a fall, from being released even partly from the strap system, or from moving too far away from the ski.

Finally, the two wings 6 and 7 in FIGS. 1 to 4, instead of being made of leather or synthetic material, could be in'the form of a flexible metal strip folded to the shape of a U, with the middle portion thereof attached to the v ski. As a variant, the said U could be made up from several pieces.

What I claim is:

l. A safety-strap system for surrounding a boot mounted on a ski, comprising at least: two lateral fastening wings rigidly attached to the ski and having respectively an end spaced from'the ski; a stirrup open towards the front of the ski and fitting around the back of the boot, said stirrup having arms, and the end of which are respectively rigidly connected to the corresponding end of the wings attached to the ski; a locking thong attached at one end near one of the connections between said stirrup and said wings, the other end of the said thong being adapted to be hooked, after the thong has been placed around the front of the boot near the other connections between said stirrup and said wings; said set of straps including means for urging said stirrup and said lateral wings ina position of rest slightly outside the area to be occupied by the boot, when the thong is unhooked, the stirrup moving back far enough, and its arms open wide enough to allow the boot to be removed from the ski unimpeded, or to be replaced unimpeded, when the ski is being put on or taken off.

2. A safety strap system according to claim 1, wherein said means for urging the stirrup and said wings in position of rest consist of two wings made of semi-rigid material and attached to the ski in such a manner that they slope backwards when they are in the position of rest and diverge from the point at which they are attached to the ski, the said wings being sufficiently resilient to deform slightly when the locking thong is hooked up.

3. A safety strap system according to claim 1, wherein said means for urging the stirrup and said wings in position of rest consists of:

two upright wings made from a U-shaped strip attached to the ski by its middle portion, the arms of the said U tending to spring flat into the plane of the ski,but being retained by the arms of the stirrup; an arrangement whereby the upright wings slope backwards, this slope being imparted when the system is being assembled. 4. A safety-strap system according to claim 1, wherein said lateral wings are maintained substantially erected above the ski due to their connections with said stirrup.

5. A safety-strap system according to claim 1, wherein the hookable thong is provided with a tensioning device arranged on the inside of the said thong.

6. A safety-strap system according to claim 5, wherein said tensioning device consists of a resilient element attached by its ends to a part of said thong longer than said resilient element.

7. A safety-strap system according to claim 1, wherein the middle portion of 'said stirrup is connected to a point of attachment on a member mounted on the ski and located behind the lateral wings.

8. A safety-strap system according to claim 7, wherein said stirrup comprises an extension part extending rearwardly from said middle portion of the stirrup to a fixed point of said ski wherein said extension is attached.

9. A safety-strap system according to claim 7, wherein said middle portion of said stirrup is attached to a member fixed to the jaw of a fastening heel piece and extending substantially vertically from said jaw.

10. A safety-strap system according to claim 9,

wherein said member is a rigid rod moving intergrally with said jaw. v

l l. A safety strap system according to claim 10, characterized in that the rigid rod consists of a piece of plastic material adapted to confer adequate rigidity to a flexible rope associated therewith.

12. A safety strap system according to claim 1 1, characterized in that the slope of the rigid rod, in relation to the jaw, is adjustable, which makes it possible to vary the tension on the stirrup.

13. A safety strap system according to claim 10, characterized in that the rigid rod is made of rubber.

14. A safety strap system according to claim 10, characterized in that the rigid rod is connected to the jaw by means of a resilient element restoring the assembly to the position of rest.

=0 III l t 

1. A safety-strap system for surrounding a boot mounted on a ski, comprising at least: two lateral fastening wings rigidly attached to the ski and having respectively an end spaced from the ski; a stirrup open towards the front of the ski and fitting around the back of the boot, said stirrup having arms, and the end of which are respectively rigidly connected to the corresponding end of the wings attached to the ski; a locking thong attached at one end near one of the connections between said stirrup and said wings, the other end of the said thong being adapted to be hooked, after the thong has been placed around the front of the boot near the other connections between said stirrup and said wings; said set of straps including means for urging said stirrup and said lateral wings in a position of rest slightly outside the area to be occupied by the boot, when the thong is unHooked, the stirrup moving back far enough, and its arms open wide enough to allow the boot to be removed from the ski unimpeded, or to be replaced unimpeded, when the ski is being put on or taken off.
 2. A safety strap system according to claim 1, wherein said means for urging the stirrup and said wings in position of rest consist of two wings made of semi-rigid material and attached to the ski in such a manner that they slope backwards when they are in the position of rest and diverge from the point at which they are attached to the ski, the said wings being sufficiently resilient to deform slightly when the locking thong is hooked up.
 3. A safety strap system according to claim 1, wherein said means for urging the stirrup and said wings in position of rest consists of: two upright wings made from a U-shaped strip attached to the ski by its middle portion, the arms of the said U tending to spring flat into the plane of the ski, but being retained by the arms of the stirrup; an arrangement whereby the upright wings slope backwards, this slope being imparted when the system is being assembled.
 4. A safety-strap system according to claim 1, wherein said lateral wings are maintained substantially erected above the ski due to their connections with said stirrup.
 5. A safety-strap system according to claim 1, wherein the hookable thong is provided with a tensioning device arranged on the inside of the said thong.
 6. A safety-strap system according to claim 5, wherein said tensioning device consists of a resilient element attached by its ends to a part of said thong longer than said resilient element.
 7. A safety-strap system according to claim 1, wherein the middle portion of said stirrup is connected to a point of attachment on a member mounted on the ski and located behind the lateral wings.
 8. A safety-strap system according to claim 7, wherein said stirrup comprises an extension part extending rearwardly from said middle portion of the stirrup to a fixed point of said ski wherein said extension is attached.
 9. A safety-strap system according to claim 7, wherein said middle portion of said stirrup is attached to a member fixed to the jaw of a fastening heel piece and extending substantially vertically from said jaw.
 10. A safety-strap system according to claim 9, wherein said member is a rigid rod moving intergrally with said jaw.
 11. A safety strap system according to claim 10, characterized in that the rigid rod consists of a piece of plastic material adapted to confer adequate rigidity to a flexible rope associated therewith.
 12. A safety strap system according to claim 11, characterized in that the slope of the rigid rod, in relation to the jaw, is adjustable, which makes it possible to vary the tension on the stirrup.
 13. A safety strap system according to claim 10, characterized in that the rigid rod is made of rubber.
 14. A safety strap system according to claim 10, characterized in that the rigid rod is connected to the jaw by means of a resilient element restoring the assembly to the position of rest. 